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date stamped on slide December 1975

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

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His Majesty King Charles III visited the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire on 10 July to launch a new initiative designed to shape the future of the space and defence economy. Located adjacent to the European Space Agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), the Space and Defence Gateway was officially opened by His Majesty at an event attended by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and other senior representatives from ESA, the UK Government and the Harwell Campus.

This photo features His Majesty being greeted by Josef Aschbacher; UK members of ESA’s astronaut reserve Meganne Christian and John McFall; UK ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan; and Barbara Ghinelli, Director of Innovation Clusters, Harwell Campus, UKRI-STFC, and founder of the UK Space and Defence Gateway.

The visit provided an opportunity for Josef Aschbacher to present His Majesty with a Union Flag that spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station.

Credits: Ian Jones

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The massive globular star cluster Omega Centauri has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploding stars, yet evidence for them is scarce. Now, astronomers using archival data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and supportive observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have finally located their first stellar-mass black hole in this cluster. Discovering the first of this missing black hole population will help refine current theories on black hole formation within environments such as Omega Centauri.

Omega Centauri is composed of 10 million gravitationally bound stars. Though the astronomy community has previously found evidence with Hubble that an intermediate-mass black hole lurks at its centre, models suggest that this star cluster should contain about 10,000 smaller, stellar-mass black holes. This notable population of black holes has evaded detection in previous studies, which used the radial velocity method or looked for radio and X-ray emission from material falling onto the black holes.

A new discovery features a different approach, known as astrometry, to measure the very small movements of stars over time. By sifting through more than 20 years of Hubble archival data and pulling in recent Webb data to further refine the astrometric measurements, the team located a star orbiting an invisible object so hefty that it has to be a black hole. Dubbed oMEGACat BH-2, it is the first stellar-mass black hole detected within Omega Centauri, and it has some surprising qualities. oMEGACat BH-2 has a lower-than-expected mass and, with its visible star companion, the black hole-star duo has the longest orbital period of any black hole binary system known to date.

The team’s findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“With the Hubble and Webb data, we were able to see the motion of the visible main sequence star that is part of this binary, which is about 18,000 light-years away in the dense environment of Omega Centauri,” said the paper’s lead author Matthew Whitaker of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, in the United States. “The precision of these measurements is incredible, down to a fraction of a pixel on Hubble and Webb’s detectors. It would not have been possible to find this black hole without these two space telescopes.”

The team’s findings refine a past study by a different group of scientists suggesting that this binary system included a neutron star. By expanding the Hubble data analyzed so that it included astrometric measurements from 2002 to 2023, and pulling in Webb near-infrared data to improve precision, the University of Utah-led team was able to better constrain the mass of the visible star’s dark companion, ruling out the neutron star possibility.

“While we already knew that the star was 0.78 solar masses, we can now calculate the black hole’s mass, which is 4.46 solar masses and therefore too heavy to be a neutron star. However, its mass is actually much lower than would be expected in a metal-poor environment like Omega Centauri. This is surprising and exciting,” said Anil Seth of the University of Utah, a coauthor of the study. “We now know that a metal-poor star should be able to form a black hole like this, and we need to figure out how that happens. This detection is providing some data to those who do that kind of modeling.”

Long time coming

Based on the precise data from Hubble and Webb, the team could chart the star’s path over 20-plus years, which fortunately was during its closest approach to its black hole companion when it moved the fastest across the sky. From the extensive data, the team determined that the visible star orbits oMEGACat BH-2 once every 94 years, making it the longest period black hole binary ever known.

Its long orbital period also gives a clue to the origin of this binary system. It was probably dynamically formed, meaning the star and its black hole companion did not start out together but rather found each other in this cluster. The researchers calculated that a system like oMEGACat BH-2 will survive for less than a billion years before it is torn apart by encounters with nearby stars, much shorter than the age of the cluster (approximately 12 billion years old).

“It’s important to understand black hole populations in globular clusters because there’s uncertainty about their physics and formation,” said Seth. “More specifically, understanding the process of forming black holes and then dynamically forming binaries is vital, because it affects our ability to interpret and understand gravitational wave events. Environments like Omega Centauri are the primary places where we think binaries are merging and creating these waves.”

The team’s discovery of stellar-mass black hole oMEGACat BH-2 with the Hubble-Webb dataset is just the start of finding these evasive black hole populations in globular star clusters.

“This new discovery highlights the immense legacy value of the Hubble Space Telescope archive” said Maximilian Häberle, postdoctoral fellow at the European Southern Observatory, who led the data reduction for the Hubble and Webb data. “It marks the second breakthrough from our oMEGACat astrometric re-analysis, following the confirmation of the intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri."

[Image description: Hubble image of globular star cluster Omega Centauri, which looks like a highly dense field of stars. Some appear a bit larger and brighter than others, with the majority of stars appearing blue, orange, and yellow. They are scattered mostly uniformly, like grains of sand. Toward the centre they gradually become closer, creating a more luminous area at the globular star cluster’s core. A small red square frame is near the centre. It connects to a square pullout in the top right corner, which shows the outlined area in greater detail. Among the blue- and orange-colored stars is a small blue-white dot that is highlighted by a small red circle.]

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle (MPIA), J. DePasquale (STScI); CC BY 4.0

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On 5 June 2026, the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission captured sulphur dioxide concentrations from the latest Mount Etna’s eruption, which threw large amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

Sulphur dioxide is released from a volcano when magma is relatively close to the surface.

A capture from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission offers an optical view of the eruption on the same day.

Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

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On 5 July 2026, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this image of Mount Etna spewing lava and a massive plume of ash, gas and rock into the sky over the Italian island of Sicily. The image has been processed using the mission’s shortwave-infrared bands to show the lava flow in bright red.

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and has one of the world’s longest records for continuous eruption.

Ash from the eruption covered the city of Catania and also forced the temporary closure of Catania Airport, which often happens when the volcano is active.

A capture from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite shows the sulphur dioxide concentrations released in the eruption on the same day.

Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

“Civilizations are remembered through their monuments, but understood through the things they throw away,” says artist Helena Minginowicz, whose sensitive paintings interrogate our understanding of value. Using airbrushed acrylic, which can be built up in lightweight, translucent layers, the artist takes one of the most quotidian household items as a starting point: paper towel.

With its machine-embossed, moisture-wicking patterns, the absorbent paper comprises an instantly recognizable substrate. The precise, textured flourishes are aesthetically pleasing, and yet it’s hard to completely separate them from our associations with mass-produced paper products that are designed for one-time use and disposability. This dichotomy sits at he heart of Minginowicz’s practice, in which she explores “how changing the hierarchy of materials can reshape the way we perceive value, dignity, and the human experience,” she tells Colossal.

Minginowicz’s embossed pieces from everyday domestic material are one facet of a broader multimedia approach to materiality in which she creates paintings on canvas and also painstakingly embosses delicate tissues. The paper towel works, in addition to some that are made on supermarket-style plastic bags, are then presented between thick slabs of acrylic, transforming them into objects with substantial heft and dimensionality.

“Every civilization constructs its own hierarchy of values,” the artist says. “It decides what deserves to be preserved, admired, and passed on to future generations. Monuments, works of art, symbols, and myths preserve an image of humanity as we wish to remember it—strong, beautiful, enduring, and heroic. Yet every monument has its reverse.”

Minginowicz’ imagery draws on the style of Renaissance paintings, especially focusing on expressiveness, intimacy, and the idealized female figure. One might think of Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” or aristocratic portraiture of the era. “For centuries, painting monumentalized what civilizations wished to remember: saints, heroes, gods, victories, myths, and ideals. I use that same language to ask a different question: Who deserves to be remembered with dignity? Not only heroes. Not only the victorious. But every human being.”

Minginowicz is currently working toward a solo exhibition at Galerie Prima in Paris, which is slated to open on October 8. Follow updates and see more on Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Helena Minginowicz Transforms Humble Paper Towel into Ethereal Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

German textile company ZEGO Textilveredelungszentrum has filed for insolvency and is blaming the financial fallout from a March cyberattack that knocked its production offline for nearly six weeks. ZEGO's filing adds another name to the short but growing list of companies that say a digital break-in was commercially fatal to their business. The Bavaria-based company provides textile finishing, processing, and treatment services for customers across industries, including automotive, workwear, and technical textiles. In a notice to customers and suppliers, the organization said it had exhausted every available option before seeking insolvency protection. Managing director Johannes Zenglein described the filing as "one of the most difficult steps in our company's 37-year history." "The cyberattack of March 29, 2026, however, impacted our company to an extent that we could not fully compensate for despite our best efforts," Zenglein wrote. "The consequences resulted in a production outage of nearly six weeks and significant financial strain. These effects ultimately impacted our financial situation so severely that filing for insolvency became necessary." ZEGO did not disclose what kind of attack it suffered, whether ransomware was involved, who was behind it, or whether customer or employee data was compromised. What it has made clear is that the operational disruption alone was enough to push the business beyond the point of recovery. ZEGO said insolvency proceedings have now been initiated, but insisted the filing does not necessarily spell the end of the business. It said it plans to keep production running while administrators attempt to restructure the business, preserve jobs, and keep customers and suppliers on board. Cyberattacks have long been capable of bringing factories and production lines to a standstill, but relatively few businesses publicly acknowledge that the resulting financial damage ultimately tipped them into collapse. Perhaps the best-known example is Knights of Old, the 158-year-old British haulage company that collapsed after a ransomware attack. Criminals broke in using an employee's password, encrypted the company's systems, and left more than 700 people out of work. Paying the ransom made little difference. Last year, another German business, a phone repair company, also blamed a cyberattack for its demise after concluding the cost of recovering its systems and rebuilding customer confidence was simply too much to bear. For everyone else still debating whether cybersecurity spending pays for itself, ZEGO's message is difficult to miss: sometimes the highest cost isn't the ransom, it’s surviving the downtime. ®

Scientists have detected a sugar in interstellar space, suggesting the galaxy may be liberally sprinkled with some of life's chemical ingredients. A new study shows that a sugar molecule containing four carbon atoms, called erythrulose, has been found near the center of the Milky Way, the first confirmed detection of a monosaccharide in the interstellar medium. Living organisms use sugars as energy sources, structural components, and constituents of genetic material. While scientists have previously found ribose and glucose in meteorite and asteroid samples, indicating they also exist in space, monosaccharide forms of sugar in deep space had remained elusive – if we're not counting glycolaldehyde, which is often loosely described as the simplest sugar, or a sugar precursor. Astrobiology researcher Izaskun Jiménez-Serra and her colleagues found the sugar in large clouds of gas and dust near the center of our galaxy using ultrasensitive spectral surveys performed by Spain's Yebes 40-meter and IRAM 30-meter radio telescopes. The researchers identified the sugar compound by matching 12 sets of signals in the survey data with erythrulose's laboratory-measured spectral signature. "Erythrulose appears to be at least eight times more abundant than analogous three-carbon sugars, which remain undetected in our ultrasensitive observations," says the paper, published in Nature Astronomy this week. Quantum chemical and astrochemical models indicate that erythrulose forms efficiently on interstellar dust grains from simpler two-carbon molecules, the study found. The researchers say the findings suggest that erythrulose can be made from simpler molecules on dust grains in space, eventually becoming part of more complex chemical systems. "The discovery of interstellar erythrulose suggests that the interstellar medium could be a viable source of sugar feedstock for the prebiotic synthesis of the first nucleic acids, not only on the primitive Earth but also elsewhere in the Universe," the paper states. While the discovery of sugars in deep space may be tantalizing for any budding explorers of the galaxy, there's no need to travel that far to find erythrulose. It occurs naturally on Earth, including in raspberries. ®

Philips is replacing Hue Bridge Pro devices after a software update left several units bricked with no way for users to restore them. Rumblings began in forums in June after a seemingly innocuous update left users, quite literally, in the dark. After a few weeks attempting to resolve the issues, Philips has thrown in the towel and said it will replace affected devices. A spokesperson told The Register, "We have identified a firmware issue affecting a limited number of Philips Hue Bridge Pro devices under a very specific software update scenario. Our data shows that fewer than 100 devices have been impacted." As for the problem itself, "The issue can occur when a Bridge Pro with automatic software updates disabled has remained on an older software version for an extended period, and a software update is then manually installed under a specific set of conditions. "In affected cases, the Bridge Pro can become inoperable and display a red LED, resulting in a loss of connectivity with the Philips Hue app and connected devices." The spokesperson told us that affected users should contact the company's customer support: "All Bridge Pro devices confirmed to have been impacted by this specific issue will be replaced free of charge, regardless of warranty status." Which is great, except that if you have to set up a network of lights and devices again from scratch, that's a substantial amount of work. Backing up a configuration isn't an option at the moment. The Hue Bridge Pro is a hub for the Philips Hue lighting system. It can support more than 150 lights and over 50 accessories. According to Philips, "Equipped with a new chip capable of running complex algorithms and AI-powered features, it's faster and stronger than ever." Except, it appears, when Philips emits an update that bricks some of them. The incident highlights the risks associated with smart homes and their devices. Support could be abruptly pulled, the device's origin might not be what you expect, or, as in the case of the Philips Hue Bridge Pro, a firmware update could leave a device hopelessly bricked. Philips should be commended for its replacement plan, particularly when a device is out of warranty, although questions remain about its validation and qualification procedures. As for the device itself, Philips released an update on Monday to address the issue (where devices haven't been bricked) and urged users to enable automatic updates to receive the firmware update as it rolls out. ®

The UK and EU are demanding urgent action from critical infrastructure organizations after formally attributing the December 2025 cyberattack on Poland's power grid to Russia's Federal Security Service. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) described the attack, carried out by the FSB's Centre 16 division, as "another example of the Russian state's irresponsible attempts to sow chaos across Europe." Milosz Motyka, Poland's energy minister, confirmed the attack on the country's power grid in January. He said experts suspected that whoever was behind it attempted to disrupt communication between renewable hardware and power distribution operators. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful, but suspicion quickly fell on Russia. Attackers tried to deploy the destructive DynoWiper malware, a move typically associated with Russian state-backed operations. Mandiant previously tied the 2023 blackouts in Ukraine to Sandworm's deployment of CaddyWiper malware, while the NCSC and its allies fingered the same military intelligence unit for the 2022 WhisperGate wiper attacks at the start of Russia's invasion. As The Register reported at the time, the FCDO said the attack in Poland could have left half a million Poles without power in midwinter – a cyberattack with potentially lethal consequences. We asked the NCSC to provide more information about what evidence allowed it to attribute the Poland energy attack to Russia's FSB, but it declined to comment on operational matters. Time to act The UK NCSC co-authored a technical advisory, published Monday, which highlights the latest developments in Russia's tradecraft, urging those most at risk to apply the recommended mitigations. It said organizations in the following sectors are most at risk from Centre 16 cyberattacks: communications, defense industrial base, energy, financial services, government services and facilities (especially organizations at the state and local level), and healthcare and public health. The headline mitigation recommended by the intelligence agencies is to disable SNMPv1 and SNMPv2, opting instead for SNMPv3 with authPriv, which comes with strong authentication and data encryption, and to disable Cisco Smart Install on all devices. Centre 16's common tactics involve scanning for devices that respond with SNMPv1/2. These support default or easily guessed community strings, which are commonly abused to gain access to network devices such as routers – a technique the NCSC and others issued separate warnings about in April. Attackers can abuse SNMP access to obtain device configuration data and transfer it to a server under their control, which can later facilitate persistent access. Although SNMP scanning is the principal tactic described, the advisory also covers the exploitation of Cisco devices, including those with Smart Install enabled. Defenders examining the document will notice overlapping tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) between Centre 16 and other Russia-aligned threat groups, the intelligence partners wrote. Jonathon Ellison, director of national resilience at the NCSC, said: "The NCSC, alongside our international partners, have repeatedly exposed the advanced tools and coordinated campaigns of Russian cyber actors who persistently seek to exploit any vulnerability they encounter. "Today's joint advisory provides decisive, actionable directions from the global security community that network defenders should implement to protect against Russian Intelligence operations and secure the UK's critical infrastructure. "I'd strongly encourage all organisations, especially those entrusted with UK critical networks, to adopt these recommended measures immediately, thereby reducing the risk of compromise." Fresh sanctions The UK and EU have each added an array of Russian individuals and entities to their sanctions lists, including GRU officials, cybercriminals, and hacktivists. Members of pro-Kremlin outlet Rybar also makes an appearance, owing to its false narratives about Ukraine and alleged interference with European elections. The most high-profile designations concern Vyacheslav Stafeyev, Ivan Senin, and Ivan Kasyanenko – three GRU leaders accused of orchestrating cyber and hybrid operations. They also allegedly worked with cybercriminals and a company called IMPULS with a view to recruit cybersecurity specialists from universities and academies across Russia. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "These sanctions strike at the core of the cybercriminal networks propping up the Russian state's aggression, and the UK and EU are sending a clear message that Russia cannot hide behind its use of these proxy groups.  "From directing criminals to targeting businesses, and striking Poland's energy grid in the depths of winter, the Russian state is sinking to new lows in its attempts to undermine European security. "Together with our partners, Britain will continue to call out this behaviour, bolster our resilience and respond to the hybrid threat posed by the Russian state. This will not deter us from supporting Ukraine." Sanctions were also imposed against three individuals accused of being operators of Lumma Stealer, one of the major infostealer malware strains that play a significant role in the cybercrime economy. National Crime Agency data suggests that in the UK alone, at least 2,100 victims were identified as infected over six months. The UK confirmed that the Russian state has used Lumma Stealer to gather stolen credentials and launch cyberespionage operations against global targets. The 24 sanctions unveiled on Monday add to the 3,400-plus individuals and entities that have been designated for their roles in supporting Russia's war efforts. Don't forget those cameras The coordinated international warnings and sanctions come days after Dutch authorities issued their own alert about Russian espionage units targeting internet-connected cameras to gather intelligence about military logistics routes. Its separate advisory warned that at least one Russian intelligence unit carries out operations targeting the Netherlands and other NATO members, using IP camera footage to track military logistics routes and the transport of materiel, and to map infrastructure such as bridges and roads. Dutch intelligence services added that Russia uses image recognition software to detect military vehicles, transport routes, shipments to Ukraine, and locations of Ukrainian soldiers. The advisory went on to say that Dutch intelligence suggests Russia's use of compromised IP cameras and their imagery has systematically increased recently and become a normal part of its tradecraft. It said abusing default passwords was the most common way in which Russian spies were gaining access to the cameras, although the most recent security updates were rarely applied, opening up vulnerabilities to exploit when using guessable passwords doesn't work. ®

Niet voor het eerst kreeg het Franse elftal een racistische opmerking te verwerken: de Spaanse oud-premier Mariano Rajoy noemde het een team „zonder Fransen”. Zo weerspiegelt voetbal de tendens bij radicaal-rechtse politici om het burgerschap van mensen met een migratieachtergrond in twijfel te trekken.

Om ook ’s nachts gebruik te kunnen maken van zonlicht, wil Reflect Orbital 50.000 satellieten met spiegels in een baan rond de aarde krijgen. Voor de lancering van het eerste prototype hebben ze nu toestemming gekregen.

Asielzoekers die door de grote drukte niet meer worden toegelaten tot het azc in Ter Apel, hoeven niet meer buiten te wachten. De overheid verklaart de directe omgeving van het azc tot ‘veiligheidsrisicogebied’, waar preventief gefouilleerd kan worden.

Nog op zoek naar een inspiratie voor je stedentrip? NRC vroeg tips aan locals voor bestemmingen die binnen een dag met de trein te bereiken zijn.

Volgens de Italiaanse oppositie wil premier Giorgia Meloni het kiesstelsel aanpassen omdat ze bang is anders de volgende verkiezingen te verliezen. De premier zelf zegt dat het haar louter te doen is om stabiel bestuur.

Nederland en andere Europese landen beschuldigen Rusland ervan dat het met cyberaanvallen overheidsnetwerken en kritieke infrastructuur heeft binnengedrongen en gesaboteerd. Eerder maandag ontboden ook Frankrijk, Duitsland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk hun Russische ambassadeurs om de kwestie.

FOTO: Een spekkoper uit het verhaal

Zul je AL-TIJD zien. Wordt iedereen en z'n rijbewijsloze moeder Ursula jarenlang aangespoord over te stappen op een laadbak omdat dat goedkoper, écht goedkoper zou worden, blijkt dat helemaal niet goedkoper, écht goedkoper te zijn geworden. De ANWB deed onderzoek naar de prijzen van diesel, benzine en laden (tanken in Nederland blijkt het duurst jeej!) en zag dat rijden op diesel en benzine in de meeste landen goedkoper is dan elektrisch rijden. En dat terwijl diesel en benzine dus al totaal niet meer te betalen zijn door het kabinet-Jetten en de ayatollahtol (goed, en de Trumppoetpech). Bovendien kost tanken ook nog eens veel minder tijd, en ook tijd is geld dus tel uit die winst. Die elektrowagens zijn dan misschien stuk voor stuk pareltjes van pracht maar wij gebruiken voor onze bedrijfsreisjes gewoon lekker de GeenStijl-dieselbus. Je komt er de roze stad Amsterdam niet mee in, maar wij gaan wat reisjes betreft toch veel liever naar Klein Amsterdam (Benidorm).

Meer hoeft u niet te weten

Jeetjemineetje, u raadt nooit waar het een totale bende is. Juist, bij het COA-aanmeldcentrum in Ter Apel, waar alles wat VLUCHT VOOR OORLOG EN GEWELD ons land binnenstroomt. Dat wisten we natuurlijk al lang en dat wist bijvoorbeeld ook het Rode Kruis, voor wie de agressieve sfeer (afkomstig van: 'een groepje mannen') zo akelig werd dat ze de benen namen. Zelfs de poeslieve reporters van de NOS werd het aardig heet onder de voeten dus dan kun je spreken van een aanzienlijk probleem. Het land aanmeldcentrum is druk voller dan vol en alles wat niet naar binnen kan zorgt buiten voor totale mayhem, dus neemt het kabinet nu een extra maatregel in de vorm van een veiligheidsrisicogebied. Asielzoekers worden voor het aanmeldcentrum preventief gefouilleerd en vervolgens worden ze teruggestuurd naar een ander pand gebracht om hun aanmelding af te wachten. Als ze binnen eenmaal overlast veroorzaken moeten ze permanent buiten blijven. Poeh poeh. Probleem opgelost verplaatst!

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